PS All-Stars DLC Kat and Emmett – Detailed Analysis

The charming protagonist from Gravity Rush offers a more accessible moveset compared to her DLC counterpart. Staying true to the Gravity Rush, Kat crushers her opponents with swift kick based combos. Players also maintain air superiority by taking advantage of her unique ability to manipulate gravity. Instead of a standard double jump, Kat’s Gravity Dash allows her to quickly fly around and harass opponents from the air. Furthermore, Kat can efficiently close gaps by pulling her opponents towards her using the Gravity Attraction attack. Fans of Gravity Rush will also be pleased to know that Kat’s Supers reflect the finishing moves from the Vita exclusive. Omar details what to expect from one of Kat’s three Supers:

“Kat’s Level 1 Super, Gravity Squeeze, is based on her finishing attack so often used to dispatch the bosses in Gravity Rush. Kat leaps at her foe, stealing a giant orb of energy. As she destroys the orb, her victim explodes. If anyone is caught within the resulting blast of energy, they explode too! This is a very powerful Super, but one that will require Kat players to be clever in order to score maximum points.”

Observing Kat’s moveset, it’s fairly clear that her character is best at keeping constant pressure on the opponent and finishing them off with her melee combos. While her gravity powers are great offensive tools, she can also use her Gravity Dash to quickly get away from the action when combat gets too messy. Alternatively, players using Emmett will want to understand the nuances of the two loadouts. Those who are most successful with Emmett will make appropriate changes to their loadout depending on each engagement.

The last piece of DLC is a new stage titled Fearless. This tranquil stage within the traditional world of Heavenly Sword is splendidly disrupted by Mach-speed futuristic combat races from WipEout. Similar to the Dojo stage, Fearless initially features a medium-sized, flat surface at the top of a pillar forcing constant confrontations with other players. As the combat ensues, the pillar takes collateral damage from WipEout ships rushing nearby. Omar describes the chaos below:

“Soon, the battle is interrupted as stray fire from the famous racing ships of WipEout hits the fighting column, and our fighters come crashing down into a new, more vertical part of the level, the race track cutting straight through the fight space! Any fighter unlucky enough to get knocked into the track or in the way of one of these terrific ships will pay the cost – literally – by receiving a hefty AP penalty.”

Indeed I am looking forward to these three additions to an already great fighting game. Hopefully we’ll see more costumes, characters and stages in the near future. The Emmett, Kat and Fearless DLC are currently announced for early 2013, and are free for the first two weeks. Even if you don’t have the game yet I encourage you to download them so you don’t have to purchase the DLC if you the game later. The game is currently out for both the PS3 and Vita.